Paul Wall is still the People’s Champ; he’s just not heavyweight

Paul Wall got into fighting shape while making his new album Heart of a Champion, released Tuesday. After various chemical and culinary indulgences sent him over 300 pounds, the local rapper underwent stomach surgery, hit the gym and changed his diet, shedding about a third of his weight. That doesn’t mean he’s rapping about dietary things. The tunes tend to focus on typical Wall touchstones like money, expensive stuff and the aforementioned indulgences. He talked about weight, his home state and doing another USO tour.

Q: I was told you were Los Angeles-based now. Surely you didn’t leave Houston, right?

A: Oh no, I just recorded the album in L.A. I wanted a change of venue, but I’m Texas for life. Lately I’ve tried to do some recording in different cities. It brings something different out of you. So I recorded at Travis Barker’s studio in L.A. He also did a little over half the album. A lot of people think of him being in Blink-182 and the Transplants and assume this’ll be a rock-sounding album. But I just loved his production and wanted to try something different. I don’t think it’s rock-sounding, it’s just what I do. Other than a lot of live drums, it just sounds like hip-hop to me.

Q: As is usually the case with your songs, though, they still sound very much rooted in this area.

A: Can’t escape that. Y’know every time I make a record, I spend time listening to the music I was listening to in high school. That’s when I really fell in love with rap music. So it can’t help but be influenced by UGK, Lil’ Keke, guys like that. One other thing I’ll say about recording in L.A., I missed the food here. The food in L.A. is the worst. If you like sushi, they’ll feed you in L.A. Man, they got Mexican food, but it’s definitely not Tex-Mex. I’m used to Irma’s and Ninfa’s. Out there it’s tofu and bean sprouts. Barbecue, man, they’ll say they have Texas barbecue. It’s not the same. The produce there is fresh, but everything else … you can’t even find crawfish.

Q: But word is you dropped a c-note on the scale . . .

A: (Laughs.) Yeah. It’s about 110 pounds now. I had this surgery, the sleeve. It’s like the lap-band, but more effective. Man, I got so big, up to 320 pounds. And my doctor told me if for every 50 pounds you’re overweight, it takes 15 years off your life. So this saved my life.

Q: Does this mean no more Whataburger?

A: (Laughs.) Yeah, that and Taco Cabana. Man, actually I can pretty much eat what I want, just in smaller portions. For breakfast I eat a Butterfinger.

Q: Butterfingers seem like a bad food for the grill.

A: Yeah, the grill’s gotta come out before eating. My wife cooks dinner all the time. She’s the greatest cook in the world. But I have to eat only small portions of it. I had to stop drinking, I’ve held off on all the drugs, the syrup, the Vicodin, the Xanax. I used to exercise a lot. Even at my biggest I was running five miles a day and eating nothing but salad … no soda, no alcohol. A month or two went by and I’d lost only 2 pounds. I thought, I could use a little help here. Years of sippin’ syrup and other drugs, my whole metabolism got screwed up.

A: Yeah, I do. It’s funny, they asked me to be on Celebrity Fit Club. And I was like, “Aw man, should I be insulted or honored?” It was a hell of a wake-up call. You try to hide it. But (expletive), when they ask you to be on there, it’s obvious to everybody. There’s no hiding it. I’m a certified fat (expletive).

Q: The first single is I’m on Patrón. I’m guessing you’re now off Patrón . . .

A: Yeah, man, I should’ve thought twice about making that the single. I can drink a little but my stomach is so small the alcohol affects me a lot harder now. But now people want to buy me shots. In the song I do seven shots, and people expect me to do seven shots with them. I can’t be doing that.

Q: One new tune is Pocket Full of Presidents. Have you ever found your pocket void of presidents?

A: Happens all the time. Y’know, I might leave my money home or something. But there’s a difference between the songs and my life. My spending habits are different being a parent and husband. It went from splurging on jewelry and clothes to going to Target to buy stuff for my kids.

Q: You’re about to do another USO tour. Has the reception been good for those so far?

A: Oh yeah. I’m going back next month, though I’m not sure what countries. They don’t tell you until you’re on the way. It means a lot to me to go over there and entertain the troops. The military has always been a huge supporter of me and my career. But then the sad part is like, last year I went over there and got home and watched the news and found out the month after I was there was the deadliest month in Afghanistan for our troops since the war started. When you’re over there, you see a flag at half mast, you know what that means. One flight back there was a coffin in the plane with us. … There are so many soldiers there from Texas or who were stationed in Texas. And I’m all about Texas, my pride runs deep. This is just one very small thing I can do.